Coreen Simpson’s sweeping, half-century archive of Black America

At 83, photographer and jewellery designer Coreen Simpson is receiving her proper due with the majestic monograph, Coreen Simpson: A Monograph (Aperture/​Vision & Justice). The very first book of her work brings together an incandescent collection of images made over half a century by a true bon vivant, whose presence radiates light and warmth. Having just returned from a book signing at Paris Photo when she speaks to Huck, Simpson is enjoying her moment in the sun. ​“It’s fabulous. It feels awesome. Because I was having fun,” she says. ​“I’ve been out here for a long time, and I’m enjoying every minute of it.” 

Hailing from Brooklyn, Simpson and her brother grew up in foster care, without a photographic history of their lives or lineage. The camera changed everything. ​“I was quiet in my own way,” she says. ​“I came from a very religious household. I’m glad for that protection, but it made me want to know what is going on outside. I was interested in writing and photography, and I realised the camera could take me outside with the legitimate press pass.” 

Photography provided Simpson with an entrance into rooms where luminaries like Muhammad Ali dispensed invaluable advice: a mink coat will disarm even the most discerning gatekeepers. Simpson purchased one and never looked back. Blessed with an eye for style and a personality to match, she photographed divas like Eartha Kitt, Grace Jones, and Diana Ross, writers including James Baldwin and Toni Morrison, and artists Jean-Michel Basquiat, James Van Der Zee, and David Hammons. 

• Read next: Who was the real Jean-Michel Basquiat?

Working as an independent photographer for publications including Essence, The New York Times, Paris Match, and Stern, Simpson crafted stories only she could tell, giving herself assignments and going with the flow. ​“You cannot create a work of art by saying: ​‘This is what I’m going to do.’ It happens when you are relaxed in the moment,” she says. At the same time, Simpson understands – you either get it, or you don’t: ​“You’ve got to tell the story immediately in one photograph.” 

At the advice of her daughter, Simpson started going to the Roxy on Friday nights in 1982 for Kool Lady Blue’s Wheels of Steel night, the downtown epicentre of New York’s then underground hip hop scene. Simpson set up an impromptu photo studio in the club, then approached people on the dance floor with a difficult offer to refuse: a portrait for the Village Voice. 

The drip was thick: gold rope chains, doorknocker earrings, two-finger rings, Kangol hats, and Cazal frames, sheepskin coats, leather separates, and leopard print for days. Simpson saw the locals as celebrities in their own right, photographing them with the same grandeur and glamour as supermodels Pat Cleveland, Iman, and Beverly Johnson. Her portraits of church ladies done in their Sunday best, as unforgettable as her images of freedom fighters Coretta Scott King and Shirley Chisholm. 

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“Diane Arbus said there is a point of coming to rest, and I never forgot that,” Simpson says. ​“You feel the energy, and know exactly when they are totally into their body and spirit – that’s when I want to take the picture. You only have a moment to get this person to stop and pause, and you have to say something that grabs them so that they believe you are going to do them justice. Everybody has to learn that for themselves.”

Coreen Simpson: A Monograph is published by Aperture.

Miss Rosen is a freelance arts and photography writer, follow her on X.

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